THE BALTIMORE POLICY PROJECT
Project: THE BALTIMORE POLICY PROJECT
IPS Staff: Sandra Newman, Amy Robie, and Laura Vernon-Russell
Purpose and Approach
This is an annual research project conducted by first-year graduate students in public policy in a core course titled “Policy Analysis for the Real World.” It is an in-depth examination of a timely issue fac-ing the Baltimore area.
The fall 2008 project was “Neighborhood Revitalization: Measuring Change in, and Around, Five Transforming Baltimore Neighborhoods.” The assignment was prompted by two motivations. First, there is widespread curiosity but a dearth of systematic information about the ongoing revitalization efforts in multiple city neighborhoods. Additionally, the literature on neighborhood revitalization fo-cuses primarily on the end game of revitalization, yet it is arguably also important to understand what happens during the period between the start of the intervention and its completion; that is, what hap-pens in the process of moving a community from its pre-revitalization status to “being revitalized?”
The students conducted an original empirical analysis of five revitalizing neighborhoods: Bon Secours, East Baltimore, Poppleton, Sandtown-Winchester, and Station North. They used multiple methods and data sources, including analysis of census and administrative data, personal and phone interviews, and systematic on-site observations. Their analysis began with a review of theories and evidence on neigh-borhood decline, neighborhood effects, and neighborhood revitalization.
Results
This analysis highlights the similarities and differences in underlying philosophies and strategic ap-proaches to revitalization in these five neighborhoods. Even during the often disruptive process of revi-talization, there was evidence of positive changes such as lower crime rates and higher sales prices. Some neighborhoods were also associated with positive spillovers into surrounding areas; that is, the positive change observed in the core area also appeared in the surrounding area. The analysis offers insights into key debates about the most effective revitalization strategies, including place-based, people-based, or some combination of the two, targeting the most distressed versus a triage approach, comprehensive versus single-issue focus, and the importance of an anchor institution.
Publications
Master’s Students in Public Policy (forthcoming). “Neighborhood Revitalization: Measuring Change in, and Around, Five Transforming Baltimore Neighborhoods.” IPS Occasional Paper #33. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.
A complete list of IPS Occasional Papers, including the Baltimore Policy Project reports, appears at the end of this publication.
